Sleep Walk, Sleep Talk
Until 10 June 2012
A contemporary installation inspired by Dickens' night walks.
To complement Dickens and London, artist Suki Chan will install a series of evocative, emblematic lightbox stills from her 2010 video installation Sleep Walk Sleep Talk in the Museum of London entrance hall.
The installation follows in the footsteps of Dickens’ essay Night Walks in creating a dreamlike portrait of London by night. Presented as a series of large-format photographic light boxes and a neon-light text, Chan’s images include hazy, shimmering panoramas of the nocturnal city, shots of skaters reclaiming the streets after dark and weary commuters on the top-deck of the night bus. A neon text ‘When I go home the day becomes my night’, drawn from an interview Chan made with a security-guard, expresses the world of night-working.
For Chan, "Sleep Walk Sleep Talk came about from a feeling I often have as I walk through the city at night – a feeling that my every step has already been anticipated and that although I might be venturing somewhere new, there's a sense that something directs my movements."
Sleep Walk Sleep Talk originated as a commission by Film and Video Umbrella, part of Free to Air, a four-year programme supported by London Councils and Arts Council England.
The display runs until 10 June 2012, admission is FREE.
